HOW THE PURITANS GOT SO SWEET | 2006-08-15
The whole history of America has beensored by Puritan thought, which led to white self-hatred before Jews got here in numbers.
Jonathan Edwards was born in 1703, so he wrote a century after the orginial Puritans got here,but he is cosidered tehe geratest of ALL American theologians by many historians, if not most.
Here, he says, is what causes the most joy in a Pritan's heart:
The Eternity of Hell Torments
by Jonathan Edwards
Click here to learn about our forthcoming book release taken from handwritten manuscripts of Jonathan Edwards: The Torments of Hell: Jonathan Edwards on Eternal Damnation
Fourth, the sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. It will not only make them more sensible of the greatness and freeness of the grace of God in their happiness, but it will really make their happiness the greater, as it will make them more sensible of their own happiness. It will give them a more lively relish of it: it will make them prize it more. When they see others, who were of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, O it will make them sensible how happy they are. A sense of the opposite misery, in all cases, greatly increases the relish of any joy or pleasure.
The sight of the wonderful power, the great and dreadful majesty, and awful justice and holiness of God, manifested in the eternal punishment of ungodly men, will make them prize his favor and love vastly the more. And they will be so much the more happy in the enjoyment of it.
SOURCE:
Edwards: Knowing the Heart: Jonathan Edwards on True and False Conversion
Please visit our other web sites: The Torments of Hell, The Narrow Way, The Glory of Heaven, The Terrors of Hell , Suicide: Gateway to Peace? and The Pilgrim's Progress Primer. To read an account of two modern examples of conversion similar to those described by Jonathan Edwards in A Faithful Narrative, please see The Testimony of Eye-Kyung Choi and The Testimony of Patricia Mills.
Tracts, sermons, and books by puritan writers are available from:
International Outreach, Inc.
P. O. Box 1286, Ames, Iowa 50014 USA
e-mail: [email protected]